Sunday, April 21, 2019

Sermon - Easter Sunday


Luke 24:1-12

                                                              No Living Among the Dead 


            Christ is Risen!  Christ is Risen, indeed!
            Christ is Risen!  Christ is Risen, indeed!
            Christ is Risen!  Christ is Risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

How many times have you joined in this ancient call and response?  For me, it is sixty-two.  Though I don’t fully remember the first couple of Easter Sundays, I was in the assembly of God’s people when this affirmation was repeated.

There were also two Easters when I had the pleasure of worshiping in the historic churches of Wittenberg, Germany.  There was a call and response, but my German is not sufficient to know precisely what was said.  Though I am reasonably sure it was very much like our American Lutheran tradition.

The only way to reply to the news “Christ is risen!” is to acknowledge that God has indeed done this marvelous thing.

“Indeed!”  The grave did not hold God’s Chosen One and thus the grave will not hold God’s beloved children.

“Indeed!”  The forces of evil attempted to do their worse but they are no match for the power of life which enters us in every breath of renewing spirit.

“Indeed!”  The great quest of human existence has reached its zenith and we are able to know the purpose and reason for our existence.

“Indeed!”  Christ has risen and all the cosmos has been rectified and righted and redeemed.

Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!

How many Easter mornings have you repeated these affirmations? 
Enough, or so we would hope. 

And how many times have you spoken these affirmations?  Spoken them to a friend as words of hope amid despair.  Or to a co-worker as words of comfort amid turmoil.  Or shared them as words of promise to those whose lives were shaken.  These simple two lines are all we need to hear, all we need to know, in order for all things to be right with the world and in our lives.  Repeating them gives hope, peace, promise.

Why then, do we so often look elsewhere?  Or in the wrong places?  How is it that we have repeated these words for sixty-two, or eighty-two, or twenty-two, or even two years and still we “look for the living among the dead.”

This is the error of those present for the first Easter morning.  They go to the tomb with spices to anoint a decomposing sack of carbon-based cells.  Upon arrival they are greeted by two men in dazzling clothes.  These men pose an appropriate question – for them and for us.  They ask, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

It is the wrong place to look, for the living.  Why would you go to a place of death and the dead in order to find life?  What would make anyone think they could find life among that which is dead?

I really mean this to be a question for you and me rather than an accusation of “the women” who came to the tomb that first Easter morning – not that they had no way of knowing what was coming.  The question of looking among the dead for the living is followed with, “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”  They had opportunity – be it a little less than the opportunities set before you and I.

So, how is it, that the search for the living continues to go on among the dead?

We know – and fully agree – that money won’t bring us happiness.  And yet, most of our energy for most of our days is spent pursuing those dead slips of paper.  (Actually, a US bill is made of 75% cotton and 25% linen.  DEAD cells of cotton and linen.)

We know – and fully agree – that power corrupts and has a corrosive effect on our relationships.  But the fight for the top rung is as fierce as ever.

We know – and fully agree – that being at peace with our neighbor means peace for us.  And yet we erect privacy fences and point our motion-sensor lights in their general direction.

Is it not an expression of death when we fear the sojourner and blame the victims for being on that dangerous Jericho Road in the first place?  Do we turn our gaze in the wrong direction when allegiance to some state-mandated right supersedes dedication to protecting school children from gun violence?

Why do we look for the living among the dead?

Christ is risen!  Christ is risen, indeed!  We know because we have repeated every year of our lives that the way to life and the gift of life is revealed to us – given to us – in the life, words, death, and resurrection of a simple peasant boy born to an unwed mother.

Please, stop looking for life in the wrong places. 

Pastor Jon has been consistent and considerate in asking me how I wanted to observe my “last.”  I told him I didn’t want a whole year of “Lasts” - “Last Homecoming,” “Last Christmas,” “Last Reformation,” “Last Groundhog Day...”  But I did tell him I wanted to preach on my last Easter.  Not because I have anything to say that has not been said before, and said better by others.  I asked for this Sunday that I might simply return to the most basic of all profound statements.  The chorus of voices around the world are shouting this day that Christ has risen.  And in millions of sermons preachers are helping the faithful apply those words to their lives.  As I conclude this, my last Easter Sermon, I want to ask you to make a promise.  Promise me that you will stop looking among the dead for that which is living.

Can you say it with me?  Will you say it with me? 
“I will not look among the dead for that which is living.”

By all means, keep your day jobs.  Provide for your family.  Seek to be the best you can be.  Protect this world from those intending evil.  But never at the expense of failing to know where life is found.  Do not forget the affirmation upon what all meaningful life is built.

Christ has risen!  Christ has risen indeed!

Amen.

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